Female members of police commando march during a ceremony on International Women's Day, at the police headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan March 8, 2018. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

For her series “Japanese Whispers”, Belgian photographer Zaza Bertrand headed inside the intimate world of rabuhos – Japanese love hotels. Love hotels became popular in Japan from the 1960s onwards, due to a lack of privacy in many family homes. There are now around 37,000 of these hotels in Japan, allowing short daytime “rests” or overnight stays. (Photo by Zaza Bertrand/The Guardian)

People out in Aberystwyth on “Booze Black Friday” or “Mad Friday” in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK on December 16, 2016. The “Booze Black Friday” is the last working Friday before Christmas when workers celebrate with their colleagues. Alcohol sales in pubs, clubs and off-licences rise dramatically on this day. (Photo by Keith Morris/Alamy Live News)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Artist Sayna Soleimanpour shaves her legs in a bathtub as she performs a photoshoot in protest against the mistreatment and alienation of Turkish women based on their clothing, during a two-day curfew amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on a street leading to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkey, late December 25, 2020. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)

India's yoga guru Baba Ramdev performs yoga on the banks of the river Ganges ahead of International Yoga day, in the northern town of Haridwar, India, June 19, 2020. (Photo by Sunil Kataria/Reuters)

A woman drinks at a bars area in Clapham, after the reopening of commercial activities following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain, July 4, 2020. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

A member of Venezuelan brotherhood “Dancing Devils” wears a horse mask while his nephew looks at him during their annual Corpus Christi celebration with a call for the end of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Naiguata, Venezuela on June 3, 2021. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)